Gaming Device and Method for Providing Sporting Games Betting Services

ABSTRACT

A gaming device for taking sports related bets wherein the house offers various sports games for betting, based upon the final score combination, allowing players to select desired game(s) to place bet by picking the slot(s) on the 10×10 matrix. At end of the selected sports game, a winning slot will be determined from the slots picked before the cut-off time. Spectators of such sports will get a higher sense of thrill and better sense of satisfaction along with the betting device and the method disclosed herein.

FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a gaming device and method ofutilizing said gaming device for placing betting on sports games played.This type of sports betting mostly bases upon the various professionalcircuits such as NBA games or NFL games.

Sports-related betting is a huge industry, available in both in EastCoast and West Coast cities including Las Vegas, Reno, Atlantic City,etc., as well as in other statutorily carved-out regions in the UnitedStates. The betting activity increases the thrills of spectatorparticipation more than simply watching the games being played, becausethe betters have real and personal stake in the outcome of the games.Though the odds of actually winning sports-related betting is hard topredict, spectators will surely gain higher sense of satisfaction ifhe/she wins, than simply watching the games and even rooting for acertain team.

Present invention provides an exemplary embodiment of a gaming device toplaying sports-related bets that are easy for anyone, without asubstantial learning curve that are intimidating for many people thatare unfamiliar with the rules of play. As such, present inventioncreates an entertainment and revenue stream for the gaming/gamblingindustry, for wider and easier reception in user participation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows the overall construction of present invention, with aProcessing Control Unit (PCU) is centrally arranged to control gamesoffered for betting, games reporting, timing, playing bettinginformation update, interface to a computer file server unit, game closeout and pay out.

FIG. 2 a shows the game module template for the 10×10 matrix of slots.

FIG. 2 b shows an embodiment of each slot for the 10×10 matrix, wherethe top portion is identified by the last digit combination, separate bya hyphen, of the two teams chosen for a particular betting board.

FIG. 3 shows an alternative embodiment of the 10×10 matrix, for a singleteam version.

FIG. 4 shows the progression of Display Unit along the timeline of asports game being played and the betting being played.

FIG. 5 shows the logical flow chart for an embodiment of PIU (PlayerIntake Unit.)

FIG. 6 shows one embodiment of the Processing Control Unit based uponthe functional modules of Betting Module, Bet Cut-off Module, PIUModule, Event Processing Module, Game Creation Module, Message toDisplay Unit Module, HPB Module, File IO Module.

FIG. 7 shows the logical flow chart for an embodiment of HPB (HouseProcessing Booth).

FIG. 8 shows the logical flow chart of game start up and ending.

FIG. 9 shows the logical flow chart of game processing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 shows the overall construction of present invention, wherein aProcessing Control Unit (PCU) is centrally arranged to take player bets,store information to server unit, and display game and betting result onthe Display Units. More details will follow later, to explain themodules and elements disclosed herein.

To play a sports betting game, the house will offer some games forplayers to bet on. These offered games would be displayed on the DisplayUnit. The Display Unit can be a big physical display module wherepartitions are made to show different sports games offered by the housefor betting.

The Display Unit can also be a collection of smaller physical displaydevice, such a large LCD TV monitor that is generally available on themarket.

Each Display Unit, or a partition therefore, for a selected game to bebetted on, contains, among others, 100 slots of players to pick to placetheir bet. The 100 slots are arranged in a 2-dimensional 10 by 10matrix, as shown in FIG. 2 a.

The 10×10 matrix of Display Unit consists of a top row numbering from0-9 (designating 10 columns from left to right), and a left column from0-9 (designating 10 rows from top to bottom). So, for this matrix, thereare actually 121 slots, but only the 10×10 slots (100 of them) areactually allowed for picking to place bets.

The top row, designating columns 0-9 (left to right), corresponds to thelast digit of the reported score for a selected game (among the gamesoffered by the house for betting) pertaining to a guest team. The leftcolumn, designating rows 0-9 (top to bottom), corresponds to the lastdigit of the reported score for a selected game pertaining to a hometeam.

The top row and left column can swap the home/guest team representationas the house sees fit and such swapping does not affect the substance ofpresent application. This type of slot is referred to as “two-teamlast-digit slot” in present application.

FIG. 2 b further enters the last-digit combination into the top portionof each slot, so that it's easier for betters to know what last-digitcombination is when the slot is picked. The programming implementationcan enter the player (better) ID into each of the picked slot, so thatincoming players/betters will know to pick other slots that have notbeen taken.

Alternatively, each offered game may have 100 slots comprised of a 10×10matrix, where each slot contains a 2-digit number from 00 to 99, asshown in FIG. 3. In this manner, the bets are placed on the reportedscore of one team, and not combination of scores from 2 teams. Forexample, in a NBA game, a player can bet that the ending score of acertain team will end in the 08, when such team's ending score is 108.However, such alternative betting mode is inherently not suitable forbaseball, soccer or hockey where the scoring typically does not go over10 for each team. This type of slot is referred to as “one-team slot” inpresent application.

When a slot is picked, either the two-team slot or two-team slot, thebet player will receive his/her player ID, and such ID information willbe displayed to the picked slot on the Display Unit for the selectedgame.

FIG. 4 shows the Display Unit as it goes through a cycle of bet-takingto winning bet-payout for a selected game, where players will get topick a slot (or multiple slots) for the final score (either thehome/guest team combo, or the alternative 2-digit one-team score), andthe Display Unit will instantly show that pick, as well as any picksmade by other players that place bets on the same selected game, duringthe allowable bet-taking period.

A status indicator light can be optionally built to the display unit,currently shown as a small circle on the upper-right corner, so thatplayers can easily tell the status of the bet-taking at a glance bylooking at the color of the light. The light of the indicator (the smallcircle, currently) will change along the timeline in colors of, forexample, green, yellow, red and blue, as the game progresses.

FIG. 5 shows the Player-Intake-Unit operation.

From the sporting games offered by the house for betting, players canselect a desired game to pick a slot, from the 10×10 matrix describedabove. Any slot (in a selected game for betting) is allowed to be pickedonce by only one player. However, a player, after confirming the pickingof a slot, can go back and pick more slots in the same game for betting.

The operation in FIG. 5 pertains to one game being offered for bettingby one player. Certainly, a player can simultaneously select many gamesoffered by the house to place bet.

For each game being offered for betting, the House will assign a game IDfor ease of identification and reference. For players, they will receivea player ID pertaining to each game selected to play, in addition to anindividual personal ID.

FIG. 6 shows one embodiment of the Processing Control Unit based uponthe functional modules of Betting Module, Bet Cut-off Module, PIUModule, Event Processing Module, Game Creation Module, Message toDisplay Unit Module, HPB Module, File IO Module.

It should be noted that most of these modules are intended to beimplemented by software-based components, consequently, some modules maybe combined and some modules may be split into more sub-modules,depending on other factors for actual implementation. However, thepresent invention should be understood to encompass all thesevariations, as long as the functional structure is as taught anddisclosed herein.

As an enabling example, the game Betting Module could be implemented bythe following algorithm:

If a selected game's matrix is available Update matrix with Game ID andPlayer ID who submits bet Send confirmation message Update currentbetting load If current betting load does not reach maximum load Setgame status to “Go” If current betting load is maximum betting load Setgame status of “Full” Send message to Cut-off Module Else Sendunavailable betting slot message

The term “betting load” is defined as the measure of how many of theslots are taken on the 10×10 matrix. Maximum load will mean either all100 slots are taken, or the preset ceiling number of slots (set by theHouse) has been taken.

The programming logic shown by an exemplary algorithm for the betCut-off Module could be:

(When there is a trigger of Time Event, or a game “Full” event) If game(with game ID) is full Broadcast “Game On” message Else For eachavailable game If game's count down If game status is “Go” Broadcast“Game On” message Else Send game cancellation message (insufficientbetting)

The programming logic shown by an exemplary algorithm for the EventProcessing Module could be:

If Player's “place bet” event Process bet Update game informationdatabase Send message to Display Unit Else if House's event If “creategame” event Create a new game Else if “cancel game” event Cancel anexisting game Else if “place bet” event Process bet Else if “cancel bet”event Cancel an existing bet Else if “process wining” event Processplayer's winning Else if Real-Time Event Update game status Else if GameReporting Service's score event Process game Update game informationdatabase Format and send message to Display Unit

The Game Reporting Service module sends all the real-time scoring to theProcessing Control Unit, which will then send to the Display Units andthe Timing Display; simultaneously the scoring information is also sentto the File Server.

Exemplary logical flow chart of House Processing Both is shown in FIG.7.

Exemplary logical flow chart of games start up, ending and gameprocessing are shown in FIGS. 8 and 9.

Depending on actual implementation, the house will assign differentformat of player ID, when any slot is picked. Such picking slotinformation is instantly shown in the Display Unit for the game selectedto place bet, among the games offered by the house for betting. Thusmore players can choose the desired games to pick slots that have notbeen picked, until the 100 slots are all filled up, or until a pre-setcut-off time allowable for players to place bets.

The Processing Control Unit, in addition to sending to Display Unit,will store the slot-picking information to the File Server, which willbe used, along with the scoring information stored, to determine winnerand for processing winner pay out.

Optionally, the gaming device, and the method of playing, may includethe house make a pick of the slots, either in the random fashion or anoperator manually makes a pick just like other players, during the timeallowed for placing bet, to increase the competiveness of the bettinggames.

The Timing Display unit may be separately set up in several differentlocations at the casino venue and may be combined to the Display Unit,depending on actual implementation, so that bets players have sufficientnotice of the timing related to the games being offered for getting andthe timing as each selected game progresses when more bets are beingpicked on a certain selected game.

Another optional feature is that the house can set a betting loadthreshold, where an offered game will be scraped if there is not enoughbetting load picked among the 100 slots, when the time before closing totaking bet reaches a certain pre-set limit.

The games offered for betting can have “boards” of varied slot values.For example, a board can be a $50 board where each slot will costplayers $50 to pick. That way, the same game can have multiple instancesof a $50 board, $100 board, $500 board, depending on how hot the sportsgame is for potential audience that is interested in placing bets.

1. A gaming device for taking sports related bets, comprising: A HouseProcessing Booth; A plurality of Player-Intake-Units; A plurality ofDisplay Units where each containing 100 slots arranged in a2-dimensional 10×10 matrix for a selected game being betted on; A gamereporting service module; A file server unit controlled and enabled by acomputer system; A timing display module for displaying bet-takingtiming for the games selected by individual players; and, A ProcessingControl Unit interconnected with the units/modules of the gaming deviceand controls the opening of bet-taking, assigning and displaying playerinformation, closing of bet-taking and bet-redeeming at end of eachselected games.
 2. The gaming device of claim 1, wherein each of theDisplay Units shows offered game for selection to place bets, timing fortaking and closing of bet-taking, status of bets being placed to theselected game and wining information, as the game time progresses. 3.The gaming device of claim 2, wherein the Player-Intake-Unit furthercomprised of input device of touch-screen or a computer mouse linked toa screen, whereby a player can enter his bet to his picked slot on the10×10 matrix, for the game selected to enter bet.
 4. The gaming deviceof claim 3, wherein the timing display module transmits timinginformation of each offered game simultaneously to each of the DisplayUnit and Player-Intake-Unit.
 5. The gaming device of claim 4, whereinthe File Server stores scoring information sent in by Game ReportingModule and all players' betting information, for Processing Control Unitto determine winning information and pay out.
 6. The gaming device ofclaim 5, wherein the 10 rows and 10 columns of the 10×10 matrix on theDisplay Unit are numbered from 0 to 9, representing the last digit ofthe final game score for the home team and guest team respectively,related to the games offered by the House and selected by players forbetting.
 7. The gaming device of claim 5, wherein each of the 100 slotsof the 10×10 matrix on the Display Unit represents the last 2 digits ofthe final score of an offered game for a chosen team.
 8. A method ofproviding sporting game betting service utilizing the device herein,comprising the steps of: a. A plurality of games being offered forbetting and displayed on each Display Unit containing 100-slot matrix;b. Players are invited to select games from the offered game for placingbets by picking slots; c. The House continues to invite players to pickslots for the selected game, until a pre-set time to close bet-taking,or until all the slots are picked; d. Processing Control Unit updatesbet-taking information to server unit and causes the bet-takinginformation to be transmitted to Display Unit for each selected game; e.Processing Control Unit determines winner slot, after receiving scoringinformation from game reporting module and proceeds with bet-redeemingfor payout to the winner of each selected game.
 9. The method of claim8, wherein the offered game is to pick the slot on the 10×10 matrixwhere the 0-9 numbered row/column correspond to the last digit of thehome and guest teams respectively.
 10. The method of claim 8, whereinthe offered game is to pick the slot on the 10×10 matrix where each slotis a 2-digit number representing the final score of a chosen team in anoffered game.
 11. The method of claim 8, wherein the Processing ControlUnit scraps an offered game for betting, if number of slots picked islower than a pre-set limit after a pre-time into the progression of theoffered game, so that another game is offered for betting.